Aysheaian National Issues and Events
Purpose of this page This page collects deeper impressions, issues and newsworthy events which would otherwise not fit in the main "World Fact Book" page. These are useful as both deeper background and RP hooks. Impressions of Aysheaia *Poor island nation *Huge *Resource rich *Heavy foreign industry *Relatively low population *Struggling government, heavily socialized Aysheaia is in the strange boat of being a rabidly capitalistic, yet heavily socialized country. The previous administration focused largely on social issues, such as healthcare and infrastructure, with good effect. Aysheaians today are largely literate, healthy and well-fed. At the same time, the economy is struggling. Domestic industry is poorly developed, as previous administrations encouraged foreign industry with heavy tax favoritism. While foreign industry has largely funded domestic social programs, many Aysheaians now view these industries as parasites on their land. Basic needs such as food, housing, medical care and education are widely accessible to nearly all Aysheaians. At the same time, many tertiary needs, important to developing industrial nations, are woefully lacking. Public roadways are few and poorly maintained, with transportation largely by foot and bicycles. Energy demands, too, are soaring, with immense disparity between supply and demand, resulting in frequent urban brownouts and poor rural electrical service. Running hand-in-hand with this is a lack of modern entertainment (music, films, etc), resulting in high levels of discontent among young and urban Aysheaians. Demonstrations against government policies viewed as unpopular are frequent, though seldom violent - as basic needs are met, real desperation is low. There is a strong police presence in the country, with large and well-trained police forces. Civil and political liberties are very good, with police concentrating on violent crime and traffic control. The country's military, on the other hand, is small and poorly funded, with basic infantry making up the largest part of the military (and largely filling in the functions of civil engineers and search & rescue). Several squadrons of aging F-5 fighters and patrol boats round out the military. Current national issues *Transportation infrastructure is critically low. Most areas have private bus services, though these are heavily crowded and unreliable. Roads are poor, and cities unfriendly to motorized and mass transportation. The government is attempting to pour money into roads, though the current state of the economy makes this difficult. As a stopgap measure, tax breaks have been issued to the tiny domestic scooter industry, in an attempt to make some form of motorized transportation available cheaply. *Domestic industry is largely undeveloped. While foreign mineral concerns have been largely replaced with domestic mining, other industries are still lacking. The government has responded by encouraging competitive business loans, though the economy hampers these, as well. *The government is currently looking into ways to increase domestic energy production. In the mean time, no short-term solution to the energy problem is in sight. *There is a strong communications infrastructure in place, which could support digital distribution of media. With no strong entertainment industry, the government is subsidizing digital traffic for independent musicians and filmmakers to self-distribute. The energy crisis hampers these efforts, however. *Energy woes are also hampering the efforts of Net-Net, the largest domestic cell phone provider, to create a data haven in the country.